Sardine Awesome!

 Lesson day with Kelly! She called him a unicorn. She actually said "He really is a unicorn!". But she also reverted back to calling him Tuna. hee hee. I love that nickname for him. Tuna. So yep... #sardineawesome for the win!!!

 

Anyways.. we had a 7:30 am lesson this morning. Which, it was cooler temperature wise. But the humidity! Man the humidity! So sweaty! So so sweaty! Dan and I didn't get there early enough to do more than warm up in the arena, but we did a bit of walking and stretchy trotting. We started off our lesson with a nice trot. Kelly said he looked fantastic! Whoo hooo! Especially now as this was his fourth ride in a row! We got a nice trot and I focused on staying loose in my shoulders and upper body and swinging my right hip. I also had to tuck my tailbone. And we had a nice lovely connection too. 

Then we played the submission game. Dan thought it was stupid. He knows what we're doing and doesn't need me to tell him! ha ha.. It's so good for him in so many ways. So we started off trotting on a circle. Then at A we would walk. Then back to trot at the rail. Then back to walk at C. Then back to trot at the rail. We were focusing on keeping his shoulders lined up and keeping him active. And soft through the transition. Then we changed it up a hair and walked at the rail and trotted on the centerlines. Then, we upped the ante by halting at the centerline and doing a turn on the forehand. Oh... there was definitely some back talk there. Hee hee. And he started anticipating and twirling around instead of listening to my leg aids. Like, our timing was impeccable so you almost couldn't tell he wasn't waiting for the ask before he went. He just would step just as I started or was about to start my aid. Because he's smart and knows that I want at least a 180 degree turn. hee hee. But we did manage to get him softer in the bridle when we turned. Kelly noticed that his left hind didn't want to step up and under as well that way. He would sometimes shuffle it or go behind, instead of coming up and under. We played with that for a bit and managed to get him going quite nicely and with minimal sass. But he was definitely thinking that he knew what we were doing better than I knew what we were doing. Hee hee. I adore him! Sassy pants and all.

 

So then we worked on our working trot to a bigger trot, back to a working trot, and then to a "passsagy" trot. More collection. Not by me touching his face or using my hands, but by holding my core and sitting more erect (almost back) and keeping my leg on. He actually got quite nice for a little bit. Wheee!!!

We did a walk and stretch break and then went to the canter. We did the same thing in the canter. She had me ride his shoulders and activate his lift with my inside leg and outside half halts. Pretty much what Kim and Jess had been telling me to do. And wow!! We got a really nice canter. It wasn't small or short or mincy or slower. It was a legit collected canter. Wheeeeee!! And sure, he can only hold it for a few strides. Kelly told me to ride a working canter for 5 strides, then the collected canter for 3 strides, then working for 5 strides, then collected for 3 strides, then working for 5 strides then take a break. She said to do that for 2 months. I love that she gives me timelines and specifics. We laughed because otherwise I would have likely been ending up with 2 strides and 2 strides within 2 weeks. Too soon Holly too soon! He's got to build strength and stamina! She said though that when he breaks to the trot that is him telling me that it's hard. So... go to that place! If he's not breaking at least once in my ride, I'm not pushing him enough. But also, be reasonable and don't overdo it. Go to that point but don't stay there and don't drill it. 

 

So yep! Really fun ride. Kelly was quite pleased and it made my day when she said he was a unicorn. It was a legitimate compliment and honest. She wasn't just blowing smoke up my hiney. :) 

I did take him to the lake for a cool down. We ended up cantering a tiny bit to the lake in the XC field just because. But we did a cross country canter.. not a collected dressage canter. He got a sip in the lake but we were alone so he wasn't interested in playing. Then we headed to Raccoon Loop and crossed the creek and went up sideways and came out on Xc and headed in. He was silly... as we crossed that bridge right before the XC field he got all but his hind feet off of the bridge and startled. He tried to go backwards and I was getting a little freaked out because I didn't want him to spin and slip on that slick wood or fall off the side. I was trying super hard to give him confidence and send him forward but I also didn't push it. He ended up backing all the way back across the bridge. And then he was like "oh.. I'm being silly.. there's nothing" and walked back across, looked at the other side for a second, then walked on. Goofball!

But man I love this horse. He's just so much fun and has so much try!

 

Educational Ride!

 Yay! Today was the clinic with Jessica Bortner-Harris. I adore her. She's so fun and real and helpful!! 

 

I rode Lyric first and then came home and got Dan and took him separately. It's only a 10 min haul and it was so hot. We got there early enough to let him graze and finish drying off and then get tacked up and then have a walk about. He didn't care about the guinea's although they weren't really doing much more than sitting in the shade. He didn't mind the goats but he did look. And he was curious about the mini horses and said hi. He was brave and we walked through the woods and found another "snake pile" but he didn't even flinch. He also grazed right up next to the fire truck. :) 

 

So then it was our turn and we rode in the covered thank goodness. We started off and she noted that I was frozen in my upper body. "You shouldn't look like a beefcake in dressage Holly". ha ha. Basically I was trying too hard to be perfect and was setting myself into a pose instead of staying supple. So my veins were popping and I looked like a "beefcake". But she did admit that I wasn't holding him too tight.. I was just.. holding myself. But it was locking my upper body, which was locking his front end. I need to roll my shoulders so they don't freeze up. And I was way too perched, so I needed to tuck my tailbone under. (Okay, to be fair, I have been better about this but it still hurts from kayaking so it was a bit tough to tuck it under because it's sore!). That then straightens up my sternum and chest. And then, I was collapsing in my right rib cage but to fix it, I just had to get loose in my shoulders and focus on turning my sternum towards the inside ear. And think about keeping my weight on the right knee, not in the foot. Balance off my thighs vs my toes. And shift my leg back. Which... I need to ponder. That seems wrong but I think I get what she's getting at. So then we did spiral in and out and she was telling me that I need to make my body do what I want his body to do. So my shoulders should point the way his shoulders should point. And my hips should move how I want his hips to move. So, when we're spiraling in, I need to swing my outside hip to his inside ear. But then when we spiral out, it needs to be quicker, so my inside hip needs to swing to his outside rib cage, not his outside ear. Ahhhh.. that was so cool how it worked!

 

So then we cantered. She said to use my calf to lift his barrel up. (Like Kim said). And she said in the words of Will, act like your holding the saddle up without the horse. ahhh... all the pieces are all intertwined. :) Anyways.. she also said that Dan has a lot of pushing power but gets protective of his neck, so he gets kind of stuck up and down in the front. In order to help him "spread his wings" and open and use his shoulders, I need to open mine and not block him, but also use the outside rein half halts. She had me think about pirouetting his shoulders around the circle in each canter stride. So lift and roll back my inside shoulder to get him to lift and roll his out and back. AHHHH. It was amazing!! He got so soft and fluffy and lifting his back. We can't hold it long, but.. it was awesome!

 

Good pony! He was tired. When we got home he ate dinner and then hung out in his stall under the fans til it cooled off. Poor guy. Sorry dude! But he had fun at Falconwood and chatting with the other horses and kids. He met Katya and she squealed at him twice. :) 

 

Early morning ride

Danimal was a tired pony today. He was not his usual keen self, but it was so hot and humid. And he did try hard. I feel a little bad because I might have been a little bit cranky myself and a litter harder on him than he deserved. Sorry buddy. We had a good ride though despite that. And despite the fact that he felt not quite right a handful of times. Mostly with direction changes. ACKKKKK. I'm not sure if it's me being paranoid.. maybe it's my imagination?? So, because of that and because of the heat and humidty, we kept it fairly simple. Although since I had the blocks and barrel out, we did jump those just for fun. Twice. :)  

Still sound, and FANCY!!! And a goober

Yay!!! He was still sound :) And we had an awesome dressage ride. We got to Ashland early and did a dressage school. He was super! We did the trot and canter half passes, and he was actually better at the canter ones. We played with the shallow serpentine, some shoulder ins... shoulder in to trot lengthens, and just some good lofty, swinging work. Although his trot lengthens/mediums need some work. I think he's more free and loose in general so his mediums aren't as obvious. We'll keep working at it. 

Then we were supposed to meet Missy so I untacked and put on his bareback pad and was heading out towards the lake when she texted that she was on her way too. But apparently Indi was moving like a slug because it took them forever to get to the lake. So while we were heading to the lake... we took the long route to try and meet them half way. (Ha.. again, didn't work since Indi was being so slow!). We passed a big pile of black tape fencing that Dan spooked at at first. SNAKES!!! Hee hee. He realized it was tape pretty quickly though. :) Then we met up with a girl and her mom and their mustang. They were taking him out for his first real trail outing. We hung out for a little bit hacking to the lake and then I mentioned that Dan might cannonball in and told them about his and Indi's pool parties. They asked to join in so I said yes, of course. Dan liked their mustang. They were good friends (although not besties like him and Indi). Dan played a little bit with him while we were waiting for Missy. He splashed and did one little swim. And then finally Indi showed up! Dan was sooo happy. He immediately shark attacked him. ha ha. Then he was rubbing his face on Indi's butt and had white hair all over him. He was so happy to see him!

Missy had bought the dragonfly attachments so she got us one too! We put them on their bridles and it was hilarious. Neither cared and those dragonfly's just bobbed around. Hee hee. It made me smile. We had a grand old time splashing and swimming and playing bitey face and shark attack. Both boys went swimming and even the mustang thought about it.  Then Dan shook his head and his bridle fell off! Doh! Luckily our new friend was already off and just standing in the water so she put it back on. Hee hee.. And the dragonfly was still on!

We had a blast and then we had to head home. We walked Indi and Missy a good chunk of the way home and then we split off. Dan was so sad when we split. It's adorable how much he loves Indi.  

He sounds like a hippo!!

SOUND!!!!!

 This morning he was playing again!! I haven't seen him play in weeks!! Cavorting and bucking and cantering. He even got a nice lead change. Rolling and pawing the ground. Yay!

Unfortunately I ended up riding in the heat of the day. He was already sweaty and muddy so I did what I could and we went for a short ride. But it was good! I kept it very short as I didn't want to push it and it was so hot. He mostly felt great, but maybe, maybe, just maybe, he felt slightly short on the right front still. Sadness! But honestly it was so subtle I wasn't sure if it was my imagination and definitely not every stride. Occasionally I thought I felt something in the hind, but I suspect he's just getting used to having hind shoes and that one wedged again. And he was happy to work although maybe a bit fussier in the bridle. We didn't have a noseband today but I don't think that's why he was fussy. I  suspect he's maybe still a hair tender in his feet. 

We ended with a nice lovely trot circle each way and then hacked to the neighborhood lake and back. He was a bit spooky because they were fixing the tennis court fence but we did some trot and canter in the ball field and he was on the muscle and still sound! We also marched home sound! Although that could have been a bit of adrenaline still. But.. overall, I think he's sound!!!

I feel better Ma! Let's play!